Debris from Air Canada jet believed to have struck cars after engine fails over Toronto

Jonathan Bergen was making a routine sales call at a Mississauga, Ont., gas station near Toronto on Monday, when a distraught woman rushed in yelling about little pieces of metal falling from the sky and damaging cars in the parking lot.

The 26-year-old Pepsi sales rep returned to where he left his Nissan Altima to find the back windshield destroyed.

“I actually didn’t hear anything,” he said.

Sifting through the shards of glass in his back seat, Mr. Bergen found the culprit: a thumb-shaped piece of black metal. The debris is believed to have broken off from an ailing Air Canada plane which was circling above Pearson Airport Monday awaiting clearance for an emergency landing.

“That’s basically what smashed my windshield, a little piece of metal. I guess from a couple thousand feet up in the air it would do that,” Mr. Bergen said. “It was a freak, fluke accident.”

Around 2 p.m. Monday, Air Canada flight 001 took off Pearson Airport en route to Japan, when onlookers noticed the plane was smoking. Air Canada officials say one of the Boeing 777’s engines shut down and the 16 crew members performed a routine emergency procedure that saw the aircraft with 318 passengers land safely back at Pearson around 4 p.m.

“Aircrafts such as these are designed to fly on one engine and our pilots are trained for such an eventuality,” Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said.

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Officials at Transport Canada say an investigation into the Air Canada flight is underway “to ensure compliance with safety regulations” and “the Department will not hesitate to take immediate action if safety issues are identified.”

Mr. Bergen’s car was one of four damaged in the Petro Canada parking lot at approximately 2:30 p.m. Monday. The damage to his car was the worst, with others seeing only cracked windshields or dents.

“At first I was hesitant to be out in the open air,” he said. “But after 10 minutes I knew nothing else was going to fall from the sky. I’m not that paranoid.”

After the engine trouble, the plane circled above Pearson waiting for an opportunity to get back on the ground where emergency response vehicles had been made available. Around 5 p.m. Monday, Mr. Fitzpatrick said the plane had taxied to an airport gate and Air Canada was working on arrangements to get the passengers to their Narita Airport destination, near Tokyo.

EMS units were on standby following the incident, but Peel police say no one has been reported injured. Investigations into the incident were ongoing Monday afternoon, as officers scoured the surrounding area for any other evidence of failing debris that had yet to be reported.

Mr. Fitzpatrick said he could not confirm what debris, if any, fell from the plane until an investigation is conducted.

“These investigations are done after and we’ll look into it,” he said. “It takes some time.”